Flexfresh™ Liner Bag by Uflex gets Accreditation for Pomegranates

In a big development for the Active Modified Atmospheric Packaging (AMAP) solution by Uflex, company's Flexfresh™ liner bag has been accredited by Indian Council of Agricultural Research – National Research Centre on Pomegranate (ICAR-NRCP), Solapur Maharashtra.

India-Uttar Pradesh-NoidaDt:09-10-2017 4:05PM

Business Wire India

Flexfresh liner bag by Uflex gets accreditation for Pomegranates

In a big development for the Active Modified Atmospheric Packaging (AMAP) solution by Uflex, company’s FlexfreshTM liner bag has been accredited by Indian Council of Agricultural Research – National Research Centre on Pomegranate (ICAR-NRCP), Solapur Maharashtra.

Tests were carried out with a clear protocol of comparing the shelf-life of pomegranates in refrigerated conditions. 4 samples namely Control; Wax pretreatment; Packaging in liner bag; and Wax pre-treatment and packaging in liner bag were put to test.

The quality parameters of stored fruits such as percent physiological loss in weight (PLW), Texture, Colour, Sensory Attributes, and the biochemical parameters were checked at 15 days interval for a storage period of 90 days.

It was observed that the control fruits (pomegranates) which had neither been wax-treated nor packaged in liner bags were acceptable only up to 30 days, on the basis of sensory score. The PLW on 30th day for control fruits was 7.00%. The wax pretreated fruits were acceptable on the basis of sensory score up to 45 days with PLW of 7.10%. The fruits packaged in liner bag either pre-treated or non-treated with wax were found to be acceptable up to 90th day of storage with low PLW of 4.30 and 4.36% respectively. The wax treatment improved storability of fruits by 15 days over control fruits. The fruits treated with wax and packaged in liner bag improved storability significantly by 60 days over control.

Flexfresh™ is a special patented polymeric film manufactured by Uflex for offering packaging solution for fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers. In fact it is the first biodegradable (by composting) film that maintains Holy Grail of oxygen and water barrier for packaging fresh produce. Flexfresh™ while maintaining the humidity inside the bag at 98%, keeps the product absolutely dry without allowing condensation of the humidity. This results in very low weight loss of the produce as it continues to breathe in hydrated oxygen available inside the bag. In several experiments on various products, it has been observed that the ratio of oxygen and carbon dioxide has always been maintained at equilibrium. The film provides good release characteristics of CO2 emitted by the produce. This ensures that the produce is protected naturally from diseases such as Botrytis, Gray Mold etc. because of the high CO2 content. Flexfresh™ complies with all international regulations for overall migration (EC 1935/2004), reach compliance (EC 1907/2006) and qualifies for biodegradation under DIN EN 13432 (2000-12).

Commenting about the performance of the packaging solution Mr. N. Siva Shankaran -Vice President, Flexfresh™at Uflex said, “Flexfresh™ has performed across the entire gamut of fresh fruits, vegetables, and flowers categories and has provided optimal shelf-life making it possible for the growers to extensively use sea-freight to reduce carbon footprint and maximize their returns.”

Expressing delight over this development, Chairman and Managing Director Uflex Limited, Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi said, “Flexfresh™ is a high performance flexible packaging solution for fresh produce which as a category is highly perishable. This packaging solution is getting increasingly popular among the fresh produce growers and exporters across continents. The recent accreditation by Indian Council of Agricultural Research – National Research Centre on Pomegranate (ICAR-NRCP) further testifies the efficacy of FlexfreshTM brightening its prospects to be adopted more and more for deriving optimized shelf-life for fresh produce.”About Uflex

Uflex is India’s largest multinational flexible packaging materials and Solution Company and an emerging global player. Since its inception back in 1985, Uflex has grown from strength to strength to evolve as a truly Indian Multinational with consumers spread across the world. Uflex today has state-of-the-art packaging facilities at multiple locations in India with installed capacity of around 100,000 TPA and has packaging film manufacturing facilities in India, UAE, Mexico Egypt, Poland and USA with cumulative installed capacity in excess of 337,000 TPA.

All Uflex plants are accredited with ISO 9001, 14001, HACCP & BRC certifications. Uflex caters to markets spanning across the globe in over 140 countries like USA, Canada, South American countries, UK and other European Countries, Russia, South Africa, CIS, Asian and African nations. Integrated within its core business profile are allied businesses like Engineering, Cylinders, Holography and Chemicals which further give Uflex a superior edge above competition.